14 DAY TRIAL // It’s no secret that Microsoft’s Windows 8 is an operating system that bundles significant security improvements and end-users finally seem to appreciate this.
A new survey conducted by AVAST Software on 350,000 users revealed that 46 percent of the respondents agree that Windows 8 is “probably” more secure, while 18 percent of them said it is “definitely” better than its predecessor from a security standpoint.
While 65 percent of the Avast users were still running Windows 7 at the time of the survey, only 6 percent of them revealed they would “probably” buy a new Windows 8 computer in the near future. Only 2 percent admitted they will “definitely” do this.
Unsurprisingly, 22 percent of the respondents still had Windows XP running on their machines, but 72 percent of them said they would stick to PCs in the future. Only 7 percent would buy a Mac, while 21 percent would be interested in an iPad.
Microsoft told us a few weeks ago that Windows 8 indeed comes with plenty of security enhancements, all of them supposed to keep users and their data on the safe side.
“Microsoft also reengineered the Windows boot process in an effort to help protect customers,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.
In addition, the new OS comes with a refreshed version of Windows Defender.
Previously known as an anti-spyware product, Windows Defender is now a full-featured security product that comes preinstalled on all Windows 8 machines. It cannot be uninstalled, but it gets automatically disabled once you deploy a third-party antivirus.
“Windows Defender is working in concert with Microsoft’s SmartScreen filter. Since its release, the SmartScreen filter has used URL reputation to help protect Internet Explorer customers from more than 1.5 billion attempted malware attacks and over 150 million attempted phishing attacks.”